Landon Brownridge ’26: Pegasystems

Before my time at Rivers, I had limited knowledge about anything computer science-related. I always found computers cool and loved to play video games, but I never thought I would actually be able to do any kind of coding on my own. That changed going into my sophomore year, when I took a Financial Technologies course at Bentley University, and I was first introduced to the coding language Python. The course consisted of learning to analyze the market and economy using code and ended with a capstone group project, where we created a technical product and pitched it, Shark Tank style, to a group of judges. After placing first as a group and third individually in the class, I realized how much computer science and technology interested me. Because I had served as the CEO of my group, I also built leadership and organizational skills, which are two things that I quickly learned were essential for technical project management, the role I was assigned within my internship this summer with Pegasystems.

My desk name tag

My internship began with onboarding and a deep dive into Pega Academy, the company’s internal training platform. It’s crucial for anyone, especially a project manager, to understand how things work at Pega. What made it even more exciting was that within my first week, I actually got to help organize and improve the very same Pega Academy modules that I was learning from. It was cool to be both a learner and a contributor at the same time, knowing future interns might benefit from the work I was doing.

Working on my market analysis project

Once I completed onboarding, I jumped into my main internship project: building a market analysis deck for one of Pega’s major initiatives with a goal of researching and recommending the best competitive product that could integrate with our services. I began by identifying the key features that make a product successful at Pega. From there, I narrowed down to the top five competitors in the space, analyzed their strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately recommended the solution that offered the most value. It was exciting when I presented my findings, and the security team agreed with my recommendation about which product might fit best into Pega. As an intern, I was surprised to learn that my input could lead the company to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on the product I recommended.

 Feedback after presenting my final presentation

After wrapping up the deck, my mindset was simple: help wherever I can. I created and managed project logs for three major initiatives our team was working on. These were consistently updated so that all members of the team were on the same track. I also set up meetings with product owners to gather essential input for one of our projects and so that the security team could gain better insight into the project they were working on. I even used the Pega organizational framework to make ongoing work easier to track and collaborate on by creating milestones for one of the security team’s projects. 

Lastly, I led daily stand-ups and outcome meetings, taking notes and following up on the action items that were discussed. As a project manager, this was the most important part of the job, and being able to multitask by listening, taking notes, and asking questions helped familiarize me with the day-to-day of someone in the technical field.

While I gained a ton of technical and organizational skills this summer, one of the biggest lessons I learned was about the importance of networking. I had over 80+ meetings with people across different teams and countries, learning how various parts of the company operate and how professionals communicate. I also set up one-on-one conversations with former interns and current employees and asked everyone the same question: “In just six weeks, what advice would you give an intern who wants to leave a lasting impression?” The overwhelming response? Ask questions and be present. That advice stuck with me and became a mantra during my time at Pega. As a high school student with no real time spent in the workplace before this opportunity, I went into my internship expecting that it would be a desk job, thinking I would do all my work in a cubicle and be isolated. In actuality, the job centered around teamwork and communication with others, which I got to experience firsthand.

With other interns during intern games

Another cool part about the internship was how fun office life was. The cafeteria provided amazing lunches every day, and the building offered fun activities like workout classes and free ice cream sandwiches. The internship program brought together high-ranking members of the Pega community through coffee chats where we got to listen and ask questions about their experiences in the workplace, and at Pega, too. 

While I loved the work, I’d be lying if I said there weren’t a few lighter moments that stood out as well. I went 3 for 3 identifying phishing emails (emails sent by hackers to try to steal information), not bad for someone working in security. I also placed second in the building-wide cornhole tournament and shared some great moments playing ping pong and foosball with other interns and my mentor.

These experiences, while fun, were also a big part of the networking that I mentioned earlier as being so important. I got to spend time face-to-face communicating and having fun with those around me, which made my time during my internship both enjoyable and full of lessons.

Participating in volunteer work with other interns

I want to give a huge thank you to Taylor, Amanda, Aman, and everyone else at Pega who made this internship so impactful. I also wanted to thank Mr. Schlenker and everyone from Rivers who helped make this internship possible.